Random Encounters


Kingmaker


Alright, so I've looked in the thread history for something dealing with the issue of the one encounter per day problem in Kingmaker and couldn't find anything on the first 6-7 pages or so (though I was just looking at the titles, so I might have missed something).

I've GM'd the first book before & a bit of the second, and am now starting on the first book with another group, which is why I'm bringing it up now.

I am aware that not all of the encounters need to be combat encounters, & that some encounters may be too easy/hard depending on what I roll to be used as a combat encounter. The main problem I'm trying to address is that more often than not the only combat that happens in a game day is in one random encounter (or one set encounter in the hex). My PC's will by mythic as well later, so I want to nip this problem in the bud early if possible so that they become used to it.

One idea I've had is to have something like 1d4 random encounters every 1d6 days in the wilderness, & roll on the tables as normal.

The second idea, if I recall correctly, was that someone had the idea to group bunches of random encounters in one hex & intertwine their stories together.

What do you guys think of something like this?

I'm trying to:

1. Have more than one combat encounter in a day (though it doesn't have to be every day) to prevent nova tactics

& 2. Not overwhelm the PC's with combat while they're exploring

Thoughts?


magispitt wrote:
The second idea, if I recall correctly, was that someone had the idea to group bunches of random encounters in one hex & intertwine their stories together.

I remember that thread - the GM rolled a bunch of random encounters, and then combined them into some sort of coherent story. I can't find the thread though.

magispitt wrote:

I'm trying to:

1. Have more than one combat encounter in a day (though it doesn't have to be every day) to prevent nova tactics

& 2. Not overwhelm the PC's with combat while they're exploring

Thoughts?

Even just sticking with the encounter system as written, there's no guarantee that the party will only have one encounter in a day... you roll the random encounter chance twice per day (15% chance during the day, 15% chance during the night), plus a 5% chance of another encounter whenever they enter a hex. So, a party that taps themselves out completely in one fight are really hoping that they won't have a night-time encounter. A more prudent party should be holding something back in reserve, just in case.

Admittedly, the keyed encounters are all one-per-hex, so if they've found and fought something that isn't apparently a wandering monster, they can expect there won't be another location-based encounter in the hex. But there's still the 15% chance of a random encounter that night, even if they hole up and don't travel to another hex.

There are some interesting and relevant thoughts about the 15-minute work day and players controlling the pace of encounters on The Alexandrian in this post: The Death of the Wandering Monster tables.

When my Kingmaker game resumes (we rotate through several campaigns), I'm planning on addressing this by making any intelligent wandering monsters that I roll behave a bit more intelligently than I've been running them so far. If hostile intelligent monsters notice the party without being spotted themselves, they shouldn't just attack (unless they're particularly aggressive or territorial). They might go off to gather some friends, or spy on the party to see how dangerous these interlopers are. They might track the party for days waiting for a good time to attack - such as after the party has just had a fight and blown lots of their resources. They might even try to engineer such a fight, by luring the party towards a creature they don't like or driving something weaker then themselves towards the party. Or they might track them for a bit and then give up and leave them alone.

Of course, if monsters are tracking the party, the PCs will be given chances to notice them. But since the monsters are stalking a known prey and the party is exploring, it won't be easy for them (the monsters can keep their distance to make the Perception checks harder).

Another thought is to use this flavourful "what are those wandering monsters up to?" table. Instead of being 2d4 Boggards existing in a vacuum, suddenly they're 2d4 Boggards returning to their lair with a prisoner... that implies there's a lair somewhere (will other Boggards come out searching for their raiding party if they don't return as expected?), and some other group being raiding for prisoners (are the prisoner's friends in pursuit? Might they be equally hostile to the players?) And even if the answer to all those questions is "no," it's still a more interesting situation than just fighting 2d4 Boggards. If the party manages to rescue the prisoner before a vindictive Boggard slits its throat, perhaps they suddenly have a creature begging them to rescue its family members who were also captured and taken off in other directions by other Boggards who took part in the raid... and everyone knows that Boggards sacrifice their prisoners to Gogunta, there's no time to rest!


I believe the thread you are seeking is this one.....

reshuffling kingmaker


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I had the same problem as you did. The PCs could easily win fights by going nova. But the players spent so many days in the wilderness that if I were to run multiple encounters each day, the game would become boring and repetitive.

My solution was to alter the rate of resource recovery. Basically, I changed everything from a "per day" basis to a "per expedition" basis. I got the idea from the Dungeon Master Guide from D&D 5e.

The exact wording of my house rule is as follows:

Quote:

Due to the slow pace of the Kingmaker adventure path, there is often only one fight per day. Under the normal rules, this gives an advantage to spellcasters and other characters with expendable abilities, because there is no need to conserve resources for later fights. The following house rule is intended to correct this imbalance.

Overnight Rest: Expended daily abilities (including spell slots, ki points, and the like, as well as any special ability that may be used a certain number of times per day or for a certain amount of time per day) are not regained after a normal overnight rest. This also includes daily abilities from items and equipment. An overnight rest still heals hitpoint and ability score damage in the normal way.

Long Rest: A long rest consists of 2 days of uninterrupted downtime in a safe location. This downtime cannot be used to pursue other activities such as crafting, travelling, or kingdom management. The time is spent tending to injuries and preparing class abilities. A cleric spends time praying and studying holy texts, a wizard spends time preparing spells from a spellbook, a bard spends time practicing his or her performance, a monk spends time meditating, and so on. At the end of a long rest, a character regains all expended spell slots and daily abilities. A long rest also cures all hitpoint damage and all temporary ability damage. (A long rest replaces the usual hour required to prepare spells, but a character who leaves slots empty may fill them later in the usual way.)

Spell Durations: Any spell with a duration of at least 24 hours but less than 1day/level has its duration increased to 1 day/level. This will make it easier to keep daily spells such as endure elements active between long rests. (At GM discretion, exceptions may be made if certain spells cause problems under these new rules.)

So far (we're about a third of the way through Rivers Run Red), I think this new rule has been a big success. Players were a little leery of the change at first, especially the party wizard. But they quickly got used to it. They generally don't exhaust all their resources before returning to town, but they are using them much more cautiously than they used to.

I like the rhythm this variant provides, too. It gives the party a reason to head back to town, rather than exploring straight through huge swathes of the Stolen Lands on each expedition.

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